Christopher Alley: Why Jenrick is, partially, right
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Christopher Alley is a county and district councillor in Hertfordshire, and was from 2021 to 2025 an agent and campaign manager for the Party.
It is something we have sadly become accustomed to, with several councillors and current and former MPs publicly leaving the party to join the rising star of Reform. It’s hard to judge whether it’s more ambition than principle, but being in politics for over a decade has taught me that it’s probably more the former. Either way, they left, and those of us who remain, earnestly continue the job of rebuilding.
However, Robert Jenrick’s betrayal does seem different. He was, for many, seen as a future leader of the Party. He was the first to voice members’ concerns as to why we were booted out of Government and his energetic social media presence quickly made him the most prominent and effective member of the Shadow Cabinet. This showed on the doorstep too. Jenrick was commonly mentioned and often positively by residents, the only other member of the current Conservative team so prominent on the doorstep was Kemi Badeenoch, and I must admit, not always as positively. Whether you disagreed with or even didn’t like him, it was clear that the Conservative Party was stronger for having him.
Many sympathise with the frustrations expressed in Jenrick’s speech, even if they don’t publicly. It is clear we lost the 2024 election and continue to wallow in the polls because the Conservative Party failed the British public. We failed to deliver on reducing immigration, and despite our rhetoric, we arrived at an indefensible position of having, by the summer of 2023, overseen migration of 1.3 million people into Britain and by June 2024, got it down to only 1.15 million.
This is just one of the many failures of policy and governance alongside the illegal immigration crisis, the rising cost of living, stagnant or falling productivity, housing, the woeful state of our military, the price of energy, failure to overturn Blairite reforms, and the list continues.
There was a need to draw a line under the failure of the last Conservative Government and give clear water to a reformed Conservative Party under Badenoch. However, the glacial pace of policy development and lack of success to cut through to the public when we do have positions to fight on make us look to be playing second fiddle to Reform. Whether it’s reality or not, it’s what is perceived by many – and perception in politics is everything.
The speech Jenrick gave was a powerful one, when ignoring the politics of it. There is little to disagree with him on, as it’s clear the Conservative Party does need to stop making excuses about why we lost. Swallow the hard pill of failure, admit the Party did mislead the public and our members, fail the country and delivered it …
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Christopher Alley is a county and district councillor in Hertfordshire, and was from 2021 to 2025 an agent and campaign manager for the Party.
It is something we have sadly become accustomed to, with several councillors and current and former MPs publicly leaving the party to join the rising star of Reform. It’s hard to judge whether it’s more ambition than principle, but being in politics for over a decade has taught me that it’s probably more the former. Either way, they left, and those of us who remain, earnestly continue the job of rebuilding.
However, Robert Jenrick’s betrayal does seem different. He was, for many, seen as a future leader of the Party. He was the first to voice members’ concerns as to why we were booted out of Government and his energetic social media presence quickly made him the most prominent and effective member of the Shadow Cabinet. This showed on the doorstep too. Jenrick was commonly mentioned and often positively by residents, the only other member of the current Conservative team so prominent on the doorstep was Kemi Badeenoch, and I must admit, not always as positively. Whether you disagreed with or even didn’t like him, it was clear that the Conservative Party was stronger for having him.
Many sympathise with the frustrations expressed in Jenrick’s speech, even if they don’t publicly. It is clear we lost the 2024 election and continue to wallow in the polls because the Conservative Party failed the British public. We failed to deliver on reducing immigration, and despite our rhetoric, we arrived at an indefensible position of having, by the summer of 2023, overseen migration of 1.3 million people into Britain and by June 2024, got it down to only 1.15 million.
This is just one of the many failures of policy and governance alongside the illegal immigration crisis, the rising cost of living, stagnant or falling productivity, housing, the woeful state of our military, the price of energy, failure to overturn Blairite reforms, and the list continues.
There was a need to draw a line under the failure of the last Conservative Government and give clear water to a reformed Conservative Party under Badenoch. However, the glacial pace of policy development and lack of success to cut through to the public when we do have positions to fight on make us look to be playing second fiddle to Reform. Whether it’s reality or not, it’s what is perceived by many – and perception in politics is everything.
The speech Jenrick gave was a powerful one, when ignoring the politics of it. There is little to disagree with him on, as it’s clear the Conservative Party does need to stop making excuses about why we lost. Swallow the hard pill of failure, admit the Party did mislead the public and our members, fail the country and delivered it …
Christopher Alley: Why Jenrick is, partially, right
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Christopher Alley is a county and district councillor in Hertfordshire, and was from 2021 to 2025 an agent and campaign manager for the Party.
It is something we have sadly become accustomed to, with several councillors and current and former MPs publicly leaving the party to join the rising star of Reform. It’s hard to judge whether it’s more ambition than principle, but being in politics for over a decade has taught me that it’s probably more the former. Either way, they left, and those of us who remain, earnestly continue the job of rebuilding.
However, Robert Jenrick’s betrayal does seem different. He was, for many, seen as a future leader of the Party. He was the first to voice members’ concerns as to why we were booted out of Government and his energetic social media presence quickly made him the most prominent and effective member of the Shadow Cabinet. This showed on the doorstep too. Jenrick was commonly mentioned and often positively by residents, the only other member of the current Conservative team so prominent on the doorstep was Kemi Badeenoch, and I must admit, not always as positively. Whether you disagreed with or even didn’t like him, it was clear that the Conservative Party was stronger for having him.
Many sympathise with the frustrations expressed in Jenrick’s speech, even if they don’t publicly. It is clear we lost the 2024 election and continue to wallow in the polls because the Conservative Party failed the British public. We failed to deliver on reducing immigration, and despite our rhetoric, we arrived at an indefensible position of having, by the summer of 2023, overseen migration of 1.3 million people into Britain and by June 2024, got it down to only 1.15 million.
This is just one of the many failures of policy and governance alongside the illegal immigration crisis, the rising cost of living, stagnant or falling productivity, housing, the woeful state of our military, the price of energy, failure to overturn Blairite reforms, and the list continues.
There was a need to draw a line under the failure of the last Conservative Government and give clear water to a reformed Conservative Party under Badenoch. However, the glacial pace of policy development and lack of success to cut through to the public when we do have positions to fight on make us look to be playing second fiddle to Reform. Whether it’s reality or not, it’s what is perceived by many – and perception in politics is everything.
The speech Jenrick gave was a powerful one, when ignoring the politics of it. There is little to disagree with him on, as it’s clear the Conservative Party does need to stop making excuses about why we lost. Swallow the hard pill of failure, admit the Party did mislead the public and our members, fail the country and delivered it …
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